EDWARDSVILLE – Brendan Latham, a very successful kicker for the Edwardsville High School football team, signed a letter of intent to play for St. Ambrose University in Davenport, Iowa, in a ceremony on Tuesday afternoon at EHS.
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Latham, who enjoyed a very successful season as the Tigers’ placekicker, will play for the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics school starting this fall under head coach Mike Magistrelli, and will bring his ethic of hard work and dedication to the Fighting Bees program.
Latham, who plans on majoring in mechanical engineering at St. Ambrose, chose the school as being the right fit for both his major and for football.
“I looked at a few schools that had both football and mechanical engineering,” Latham said in an interview, “and then I narrowed it down. It was a relatively short distance from home, and it had everything I was looking for, and that’s why I chose St. Ambrose.”
Latham also considered Rose-Hulman Institute in Terre Haute, Ind., and Trine College of Angola, Ind., but felt the small campus of St. Ambrose felt like home to him.
“The small campus feeling made me feel at home,” Latham said, “and I got along really well with the coaches and the other players. They made me feel like I could have a positive effect on the program, and that was important to me.”
Latham is a very hard worker who’s dedicated to the art of kicking, and his work ethic showed in every game.
“I think he was a very good high school kicker,” said Edwardsville head coach Matt Martin. “He’s a very good field goal and extra point kicker, and I think he’ll bring a lot to the table.”
Not only is Latham a very talented kicker, but is also a very athletic player, and it served him well for the Tigers.
“He’s a tremendous athlete, very explosive, and he was one of our most athletic players,” Martin said. “I don’t know what their situation is, but if he continues to work hard, and remain dedicated to his craft, he’ll compete for a starting job at St. Ambrose.”
Latham agreed that his work ethic is one of his strongest points.
“As I got more into it, I realized that there’s no way around the work,” Latham said. “You have to put it in.”
And to know that when a game is on the line, and he could be the one player that decides the outcome, Latham enjoys that part of football very much.
“It’s both exciting and scary at the same time,” Latham said with a laugh.
His favorite memory of playing for the Tigers doesn’t even involve a made field goal or a conversion.
“I thought It was against East St. Louis,” Latham said, “when I tackled a guy in front of the East Side bench, and I could hear our guys going crazy on our bench.”
And besides his work ethic, Latham feels that the most important thing that he brings to the table is his versatility and flexibility.
“I think the main thing is my versatility,” Latham said. “I can kick off, punt, and I can do field goals.”
And Latham’s goals at St. Ambrose? Very simple and straightforward.
“I think starting would be my first goal,” Latham said, “and after that, it’s just getting better every year.”
